Man went from being homeless to running a £7 million-a-year business in a decade

It's a real rags to riches story for a Polish man who arrived in the UK 13-years-ago with nothing but a bicycle and £200.

When Alex Landowski first arrived in Britain he had no home to call his own and instead had to kip on the floor of his friend's bedroom in a house with 10 other people.

He was a sofa-surfing 24-year-old with no big plan other than to make some money in the UK to pay off debts he'd racked up from a failed business in his native Poland.

When he was down to his last £200, he decided to move to London and it took him weeks before he was able to get a job - and even then he wasn't getting paid for it.

Alex put his bike to good use with some courier work but he ended up having to quit because London is really blooming expensive and working for nothing is not going to put food on the table.

Medical Logistics

He told the Daily Mirror that he was able to get a different bike courier job which actually paid him money this time and he could start putting some money together to rent a place of his own.

Again it must be stated that London is really blooming expensive so Alex ended up squatting in an empty warehouse. It wasn't the sort of place you could call a home but there was water and electricity and that was the important bit.

Unfortunately for Alex squatting in the warehouse only lasted a couple of months as bailiffs showed up to clear the place out and he knew he'd need to move on.

At the peak of his time as a bicycle courier Alex was earning up to £60 a day and he was able to find a modest room to rent in Bethnal Green.

This carried on for a few years before Alex decided to start his own business providing medical couriers - and he eventually got a friend to invest £50,000 into his plan.

Medical Logistics

He started delivering items to GPs and clinics and has since expanded his business, Medical Logistics, so he can now deploy drones to carry medical samples and blood supplies.

It's grown to the point that he employs 25 people and has a whole load of technology to supplement his deliveries.

"Drones are a natural path forward – the tech can save lives, time and the environment. Delivering organs is not far off," Alex told the Mirror.

"I never expected it to take off like this," he said, which is a really good joke if he meant to be funny there.

He now lives with his wife and two children in the Cotswolds, a far cry from the days of sofa surfing or squatting in an abandoned warehouse.

Now, he wants to gain UK citizenship, which means he'll have to take a test.

Topics: UK News, World News, Technology, Health

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker